Poor patient adherence is a major concern within the health care industry. After visiting their health care provider and receiving at least one prescription for substances, many patients fail to maintain a level of dedication and adherence to their prescribed substances. This results in increased costs to all parties involved in the health care industry, including, but not limited to the patient, the health care provider, the pharmacies, the pharmaceutical companies, and the health insurance companies. There are currently many methods used with the goal of increasing patient adherence, such as, the distribution of patient educational material, coupons, and patient reminder services. However, there still remains a need for a system that can better utilize these methods to increase patient adherence.
One important element to increasing patient adherence is good health care provider-patient interaction. Because this interaction takes place at the point-of-care while the patient is thinking about their current physical state, this interaction is crucial for facilitating patient health, awareness, and adherence. However, there is currently not a system that allows for a health care provider to be fully aware of whether their patients are adhering to their prescriptions, while the patients are at the point-of-care. Further, the current methods of increasing patient adherence through educational and financial incentives require the health care provider to not only know whether or not their patients are adhering to their prescribed substances, but also requires the health care provider to have the specific education material and coupons/discounts for each patient's specific diagnoses and prescribed substances at the point-of-care. This is overly burdensome and practically impossible for a health care provider who has patients with a wide variety of health care needs. Therefore, there is also a need for a system that can more easily and efficiently distribute patient educational materials, coupons, and other supplemental programs at the point-of-care.
Additionally, pharmaceutical companies are restricted in the number of coupons and other incentives they may distribute. Currently, the coupons and other incentives are distributed to patients without taking into consideration whether the patient receiving the coupon or other incentive needs or will be incentivized by them. Therefore, there also remains a need for a system that can aid pharmaceutical companies in distributing coupons and other incentives to their customers in a more efficient manner.